For more about him, see: al-Jarḥ wa-l-Taʿdīl (5/163), Tārīkh Baghdād (10/89), Ṭabaqāt al-Ḥanābila (1/192), Siyar Aʿlām al-Nubalāʾ (13/397) and its footnote, and the introduction to Al-Tahajjud wa-Qiyām al-Layl under my verification.

Description of the Manuscript and Its Authentication

There are two copies of this book:

The first: preserved at the (Laleli) Library under number (3664/4), and from it a photocopy is at the Institute of Manuscripts under number (387 - Sufism (Tasawwuf)).

The second: at the Rampur Library (1/360), and Carl Brockelmann mentioned it in History of Arabic Literature (2/131 - Dar al-Ma'arif edition in Egypt).

As for the authentication of the book, al-Dhahabī mentioned it in al-Siyar (13/397, 403), Ibn Ḥajar in al-Muʿjam al-Muʾassas (2/396), al-Mundhirī in al-Targhīb wa-l-Tarhīb (3/275–276), al-Suyūṭī in al-Durr al-Manthūr (6/474), and in al-Jāmiʿ al-Kabīr—its arrangement called Kanz al-ʿUmmāl (vol. 3, nos. 8709, 8711, 8712, 8714, 8715, 8717, 8719, 8721, 8724).

And al-Rāwandī in Ṣilat al-Khalaf (p. 307).

Title Page

The following was written on the title page:

"The first part of the Book of Isolation and Solitude (Kitāb al-ʿUzla wa-l-Infirād), authored by the Sheikh Abū Bakr ʿAbd Allāh b. Muḥammad b. ʿUbayd Allāh b. Abī al-Dunyā al-Qurashī—may Allah Almighty have mercy on him.

Narration (Riwaya) of: Abū ʿAlī al-Ḥusayn b. Ṣafwān al-Bardhaʿī from him.